URGENT – you know connection will be missed before you take on first flight
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Hi Looking for some urgent advice on what can be done / what am I entitled to do when at checkin and i already know that it will not be possible make my connection in Gatwick (from Tampa travelling onto Glasgow).
Thanks.
Ann
Well you could speak to the AA or BA staff at Tampa. They however will likely want you to fly to LGW as booked and sort the problem there.
That would seem best to me as otherwise you’re looking at a 2 stop route via somewhere else on the east coast and I can’t imagine that will get you back to Glasgow any quicker.
Suck up the delay and enjoy the EU261 and duty of care would be my advice.
I’ve tried engaging in the past by phone with Delta and got somewhere in such a situation. With BA and partners, the unbudging position is to get you to LGW and then deal with you after that. Are there domestic flights still from LGW? The MAN service was a loss.
There’s one flight tomorrow about 11am, LGW-GLA.
So Gatwick will send you off to Heathrow with a bus ticket. Looking at the timetable, leaving about 530pm local still won’t get you to Glasgow until we’ll into the afternoon. And with the risk of horrific seats, too, given most folk will be checked in.
I spoke with the staff at Tampa. They can’t confirm what time the flight will take off to LGW but currently showing later again as 21.10 and not scheduled to land til about 15 mins before my next flight leaves to GlA. I have been rebooked (they think) onto the 4pm flight from Heathrow.They would not issue a boarding pass but gave me my original one and said just in case I arrive early and can make the connection – zero chance. They have sent my bag to GLA it’s heavy and I would struggle to take across to Heathrow. I’m really not familiar with LGW and assuming I miss my connection whether to head straight to LHR somehow and pick up a boarding pass there. Not sure what E261 would entitle me to do I’ll need to check that out. Would a taxi be doable or would they expect me to take the bus as I have no heavy bag but I have 2 hand luggage. Struggling to know what I should do for the best really. Fed up.
Hi Ann,
Tampa check-in staff may be doing you a favour by checking you in for a LGW-GLA flight you know you are going to miss! It means your bag will be through-checked to Glasgow – so if you miss the flight, and your bag misses the flight, it will be kept at LGW and sent up to Glasgow on the next LGW-GLA flight.
Your BA LGW-GLA flight is sold out – or cancelled! – since BA are no longer selling tickets on it.
Personally, I would suggest self-booking – BA say they can’t book direct on Easyjet – the EasyJet LGW-GLA. But, you must give BA every opportunity to rebook you first, so make notes of everyone you speak to. You would then have to claim back your re-routing costs.
Be aware, EU 261 may not kick in – there have been lots of thunderstorms etc in the UK in the past 24 hours so weather is a get-out-of-jail free card for BA. But Duty-of-Care still does apply. So meals – but not booze, hotel if necessary, and reasonable transport. A taxi for one person LGW-LHR might be a bit iffy, but a taxi instead of the bus for a party of four might not be much different in price.
Remember, if you re-route LHR-GLA you might have to collect your bag at LGW and take it through customs and into the UK.
Then, at LHR, you’ll need to check it in again before going through security. So allow plenty of time for that too.
Assuming you don’t need anything in your checked-in bag, it may be best to let it continue to be checked Tampa-LGW-GLA, even if you have to wait a few days for it. BA will deliver it to your house – so allow a few extra days if you live in Shetland!
Thanks. They say I have a seat currently on the LHR flight to GLA but I’d rather take the easyJet flight than travel across London. Would I be deemed to be unreasonable not to take their option?
Thanks. They say I have a seat currently on the LHR flight to GLA but I’d rather take the easyJet flight than travel across London. Would I be deemed to be unreasonable not to take their option?
BA can’t book you on to an easyJet service, because the latter are not an IATA member and, therefore, there is no way for BA to book tickets on 125 stock using the IATA BSP. In short, that means that if you do choose to book on to easyJet, doing so may be at your own cost, unless BA then agree to pay out after the fact via UK261. I would think that they would argue that providing transport to LHR, and rebooking you from there is reasonable, and I think arbitration would agree.
Of course, if you have good reason why travelling LGW-LHR is not feasible on public transport (the bus is a direct National Express service, taking less than an hour), then that’s one to discuss with them at the desk.
BA are (IMO) entirely reasonable rerouting you via LHR (especially considering it’s Sunday and there are no further flights from LGW). Therefore, there is a risk they will not pay for EasyJet if you self book. It is also reasonable for them to expect a solo pax to taje the bus, not a taxi. IMO best just to follow BAs arrangement for you, use any appropriate DoC, and hope there is some unestraordinary circumstances at play so you can get comp.
I agree. It’s reasonable if they’re getting you home the same day. If you’re in a group I’d just take an Uber or a taxi unless they’ve specifically given you National Express vouchers. It’s less than an hr around the M25 all being well.
Your BA LGW-GLA flight is sold out – or cancelled! – since BA are no longer selling tickets on it.
The way to check if a flight has been cancelled is not to guess but to use the flight status tool on the app/website.
It looked like the TPA flight will get 8th LGW too late for thr GLA flight.
It’s possible depending on the number of connecting passenger that BA might delay it to enable passengers but not luggage to catch it.
Ann should start refreshing the app the moment she lands to see what BA have rebooked her on. CC may also have info on their iPads on connections etc.
The GLA flight was delayed until 11.56 (46 mins late).
This could have been an ordinary caused delay but also because they delayed it for connections.
Hopefully Ann will let us know what happened to her!
The last time when BA rebooked me to LHR instead of LGW when my original flight to LGW was cancelled, I took a taxi (UBER) from LHR to LGW and the cost was just over £100. BA paid this as part of a duty of care claim but we were a family of 3.
Hope so. An hr is doable if you hustled and there weren’t any hold ups (there isn’t a flight connections you have to clear immigration and go back upstairs. Just depends if BA planned to hold the connection or it was a last minute delay and the OP had already been offloaded, you wouldn’t find someone at Gatwick to fix it quickly enough I’d guess
If the bag (and passenger) missed the Glasgow flight I’m not sure what would happen, I expect if you enquired you’d get the bag back to take to Heathrow but equally if you just went to Glasgow yourself and filled a bag report there it’d then up on the next days flight and get delivered to you
The last time when BA rebooked me to LHR instead of LGW when my original flight to LGW was cancelled, I took a taxi (UBER) from LHR to LGW and the cost was just over £100. BA paid this as part of a duty of care claim but we were a family of 3.
I believe BA has an internal limit of £50pp for the travel but I think in reality an Uber even for one person would get paid. But if it were just me and there was a bus going imminently I’d take that as it’s no inconvenience really if it is stopping at T5 first!
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